Video Review: Liz Phair “Extraordinary”

Sitting at the kitchen table, little Sarah Davis (Abigail Breslin) table, asks who is going to take her to school. Big sister Audrey (Hayden Panettiere) her sister while Helen Harris (Kate Hudson). folds her arms and says she will take care of them of now even though she is as freaked out as Audrey. The dog cowers in its bed, scared it might not be fed or taken outside.

Liz Phair appears, playing a guitar beside a billboard on a bus reading “every man loves a liz girl” with a photo of herself. Harris walks by it and smiles appreciatively at it.

Harris pulls at her dress, trying to make it shorter, not knowing an invisible band, Editincluding two Lizes, is serenading her in the kitchen. Pastor Dan Parker (John Corbett) stands in the corner, wanting to speak to Harris but she breezes past him and heads to the kitchen counter. Phair could care less, wanting to be looked at instead.

With some of the required movie marketing out of the way, Phair is finally able to promote herself. Three Lizes are performing on stage behind a red, neon “Supergoddess” sign. Then, she turns to her head to watch some footage of Harris tripping, dropping all her stuff. Then, it’s back to the stage with red, neon sign.

The stage changes to have a white sign reading EXTRAORDINARY while another Liz pops up and plays the guitar. Noticing Harris is in need of cheering up, she and her band serenade Harris again. She then stalks her to her car, still playing the song while Harris smiles at her, enjoying the performance by the persistent chick who keeps following her around.

Behind a red, white and thin black striped background which resembles a flag, she plays with her band. It switches to a black-and-white circle tiled background with a single red dot. It’s cool even though it’s kind of like Minesweeper. Then, the adjectives are like signs that get flipped each time they are said during the chorus.

Harris sees her personal cheerleader and waves to her. Phair is like “hey, I’ve got nothing better to do!” and performs for her. Against a background of what seems like washing machines, a couple Lizes trash the place. Phair gets a personalized gray background that reads “Liz Phair” in pretty cursive writing, which so far is the most personal promotion she has received for herself.

A big neon sign in red and white reads LOVE ME (she’s got a kid, you know and the song is going to have to pay for his college tuition someday).

On a runway, Phair plays her guitar, looking out of place amongst the models waiting backstage. More and more Lizes appear in against a red background.

Phair helps Harris teach Henry (Spencer Breslin) basketball in a gym. She whips her hair around like a rock star. Back on the street corner, Harris has put her head into her hands. Phair tells her it will be all right (but can she spare a dime, her kid’s college education, it doesn’t seem so far). Multiple Lizes appear on a now empty runway.

Little Sarah is on the runway, Harris rushes to her and holds her in her arms. Phair spins her arm like a wheel as she plays guitar. Harris grimaces, thinking “Oh my god, I’m seriously going to kill these kids” while the models dance along to Phair. The signs with adjectives happen again and then the backgrounds change with one. Harris claps like it’s funniest joke she’s ever heard (possibly the most well-placed clip).

The backgrounds blur as they change. Harris is shown with the kids, laughing. Phair says the final lyrics to the screen as Harris hugs the kids.

Rating: 1/5

It’s 85% film clips for the movie. Phair hardly gets any time to carve out any real promotion for herself and devalues her career in the process. When the film clip is shown of Harris laughing, it’s like it a comment on Liz Phair herself. Throughout the entire video, she’s following Harris around and it becomes a joke of how much Phair can insert herself. It’s okay to want to make money and have a huge hit but have some dignity about it.